Dream Trip 2009

Great Travel Moment

They passed in a blink and then they were gone, these fleeting figures transversing the beach in the haze of a Goan sundown. I wasn't certain from where they had come, but the only explanation was a boat. The sighting confused me; this was that time of day when a slight breeze develops and the tourists clear out, replaced by young men in shades and ear buds fiddling with cell phones and M3 Players. I tried to see where these women were headed, but just like that they disappeared. How they slipped through a modern late afternoon made me realize that past and present can intermingle, if you can call it that, even if just for a moment, even if you can't be certain of what you just saw. At this instant, I realized that the definition of "present" depends on who you talk to.